अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जनशालाकया
चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः
Ajnana-Timirandhasya Jnananjana-Salakaya;
Chakshurunmilitam Yena Tasmai Sri Gurave Namah.
(Prostrations to that Guru who, by the collyrium-rod of Knowledge, opens the eyes of those who are rendered blind by the darkness of ignorance)
"The Guru is God Himself manifesting in a personal form to guide the aspirant. Grace of God takes the form of Guru. To see the Guru is to see God. The Guru is united with God. He inspires devotion in others. His presence purifies all.
The Guru is verily a link between the individual and the Immortal. He is a being who has raised himself from this into That, and thus has a free and unhampered access to both the realms. He stands, as it were, upon the threshold of immortality; and bending down, he raises the struggling individuals with his one hand, and with the other lifts them up into the empyrean of everlasting joy and infinite Truth-Consciousness. "
(Swami Sivananda)
If the author has to actually justify the quote of Chinmaya above and then Chinmaya's Guru Swami Sivananda's saying given above, then a whole volume has to be written and still the author would be falling short of vocabulary to actually describe what these masters have written.
Swami Chinamaya says - All rituals, all worships, all efforts by any person (Japa mala, sitting in the assembly hall for attending satsangh etc.) are of little use in one's spiritual upliftment unless the aspirant is fired up with mumukshatva (intense craving for God realization) and a realized master comes to him, holds his hand and says "Run with Me" (in the path of sadhana as per Guru's instructions)
And about learning by watching Guru's actions, Guru's silence, Guru's words, only those blessed ones who have had opportunity in their lives to be in the presence of a realised Master can actually explain this inexplicable learning process otherwise.
In the earlier days when almost each child used to be sent to the Acharya, to stay in the hermitage of the Guru, the learning that the disciple used to get by observing his Guru is something which no one can describe and no one can understand.
Sri Chinmaya has written about his experience and learning on observing Tapovan Maharaj, Swami Venkatesananda, Swami Krishnananda etc., have written in detail about their learning on watching their Guru Swami Sivananda, Muruganar has written poems after poems on his learning under the feet of Sri Ramana where the learning was totally in silence as Ramana hardly spoke on spiritual aspects explicitly.
How can Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda be left out in the list? He has written many pages in "Autobiography of Yogi" about his observing and learning from his Guru Sri Yukteswar.
It so happens that in the hermitage of a Guru, a dozen disciples undergo training for 10 years but out of them, only one or two come out as outstanding and spread the fragrance of their learning from their Guru to the world. This is because of the tuning which Chinmaya has mentioned in his quote.
There may be many direct disciples of Tapovan Maharaj but only Chinmaya went on to become world renowned saint. Same is the case with Sri Krishnananda or Chidananda under Swami Sivananda and so on.
Such chosen disciples, out of their prarabdha on one hand and due to their intense purushartha on the other hand, end up tuning themselves 100% to their masters and are able to grasp each and every gesture, each and every word, each word of compassion or even scolding of their Master and are able to almost peep into the heart of their Masters and grasp everything that their Master has to give to them.
There are volumes of books on Guru's contribution in Disciple's emancipation like GURU BHAKTI YOGA by Swami Sivananda or GURU VACHAKA KOVAI based on Sri Ramana's teachings and GURU TATTVA by Swami Sivananda and many more.
Love.
